Tag Archives: natural hair

If you follow Oprah on any of the social media platform’s this week, you would have noticed that she posted a picture of epic proportion, namely a ‘larger than life’, ‘cant tell meÂ nothing ‘ Afro while wearing a stunning Orange dress. This is the coolest thing ever in my opinion because I have always said if Oprah ever wore and Afro to work it would help change the game even more than it already has. I must confess I do not always buy O-magazine but I almost always grab the latest issue and flip through it while waiting on the long lines that seem to plague every Wal-Mart in the country. This is the first time she has put ‘hair’ out there like that, and not just any hair, did you see the size of that thing!?

‘Talk about a hair-raising look!Â Oprah WinfreyÂ models a giant afro wig on the September 2013 cover ofÂ O, The Oprah MagazineÂ — and the TV titan’s hefty headpiece weighed a whopping 3.5 pounds! “I wish I could say it was all mine. In fact, though, it’s borrowed. And it feels like carrying around an extra head,” Winfrey reveals. “My own hair is shorter, not quite so spherical, and a lot lighter. But that doesn’t mean it never gives me grief. When it comes to hair, I’m in the same boat as most every other woman.”

According to the Mississippi native, “The way we feel about our hair is universal: We love it when it looks great, we can’t stand it when it looks not so great, and we all want it to tell the world something about us.”

I have been reading the comments from women all over the world when Oprah posted the picture and they were all great, someÂ singing praises to Oprah for showing the beauty of the afro in such dramatic fashion, others questioning if the hair was all hers, and most of them just telling her to ‘werk’. One comment stood out the most however,Â a young lady stated that what she loved the most was that the natural hair movement started at the grass roots level, no celebrity endorsement in the beginning, and now they (the celebs) are just catching on. Natural Girls Rock!

For me Oprah wearing an Afro on the cover of her magazine, is just Oprah wearing an Afro on the cover of her magazine, but it means more to me as well, just like one of her comments mentioned, it shows the power of your own voice, whether it is on a blog, on video or just word of mouth. Everyone knows that if you are in business and you have a product that becomes ‘Oprah’s Favorite thing” You are guaranteed maximum profits for that year and years to come if you know how to surf a wave. In this case I am hoping that if she sheds light on black hair then the level of acceptance will shoot even higher than it has in the last couple of years. Wearing an afro at work still sparks heated debates and in our own homes, you might have a husband looking at a wife asking her to change her hair because ‘he doesnâ€™t like it’. My hope is that we can wear our hair proudly in a professional environment and not have to depend on a bun just in case the person on the other side of the interview table ‘doesnâ€™t get it!’

The game is changing ya’ll and if we can all feel comfortable to make natural hair a viable choice in our lifestyle then things will be a little easier for our young girls who have a thwarted view of what beauty is. Girls will not feel that they ‘have’ to get a relaxer to hide there beautiful tresses but that they can choose to get one if theyÂ want to. Beauty is no longer focused in one direction -West! we have to keep blogging and styling and showing our beautiful faces and hair because you might not know it but everyone is looking, especially our children.

On a lighter note I donâ€™t think I could rock three pounds of hair though, but I appreciate what Oprah is doing, I am with them when they say

There is a perfect example of a woman going natural for her daughter in the clip, she explains exactly what we have been talking aboutÂ and it proves thatÂ it is extremely hard to help a young child deal with hair issues when mom looks entirely different and not setting the example.

What I Didn’tÂ Like

(shenanigans begins at 5:34 on the video)

-I’m not sure I like that dude towards the end, he kinda ruins it for me, I get what he is ‘trying’ to say, but ummm aint nobody trying to follow your ass on twitter!-especially not a black bitch!! – If you are trying to make a point or drive home something positive sometimes building the argument using negative on top of negative just leads to one thingÂ two things- NEGATIVITY and counter productivity – way to go champ!

– I am not sure I like the title either, which is weird because I generally do not have a problem with the word ‘nappy’, I think its one of those things where I can use the word in my community, but you cant. does that make any sense?

I loved Ebony’s Blog Post because it is a very real topic that many of us debate on a daily basis. Let me say first and foremost that I think Going natural for our daughters does matter, it matters a whole lot. I could take a step back and say that going natural period has its perks, but if you want to set an example of acceptance even if its just with hair for your little girl then why not make the sacrifice.

There are a few schools of thought at play here, one is that we live in a society where adorning ourselves to the point of self distortion is attractive, encouraged and widely accepted. We live in a world where a woman wearing a weave does not think twice about where that human natural hair came from and what sacrifice was made to get it on her head so she can look fly Friday night at the club.

My boobs are too small, my cheeks look weird, I hate my skin tone, bleach this, enhance that, nip this, tuck that, plump this, erase that line! the images of enhancement are all around us and unfortunately our daughters are exposed to ideas that self enhancement is always necessary. As a matter of fact we have all done something to enhance our own beauty at some point in time, I mean lets face it, make up is a multimillion dollar industry! ~ tell me you have never owned some lipgloss!?

My opinion is all that doesn’t matter, what we want to teach our children is that life is about choice. If you are a religeous person thats how things started out, Choice, Do I eat the apple or not?

You want to tell your sweetheart that yes, there are things out there that people do to enhance themselves, but lets get to know ‘us’ first. Lets get to know the potential of our mind, the value of our body and spirit and how we can better serve as humanitarians, because to be human means giving back just as much as we receive.

Natural hair is not ‘Everything” it just seems like it is because you might be reading a blog dedicated to natural hair, it might be a small or big part of your life, who knows, but it is a great start, for teaching appreciation to a young girl who might not be sure that what grows naturally from her is good enough. Mommy s have a wonderful role, because they are the first role models to their little girls, mommys are watched, followed, spoken about to friends, adored by children who are constantly learning.

I would never consider my natural hair as a fad because how can a fad naturally grow from my skull. A Fad, now considered a way of life for some, is what burnt the hec out of the middle of my head causing me to make some critical decisions when it came to my own hair care. A Fad is defined as a short lived craze, I don’t see my own hair as something short lived, unless I have a bald gene I know nothing about.

The point is, teaching young girls to choose self, starts with mommy and daddy, life is about making a choice. We cant run away from the influences of life as we know it, there will always be a ‘Fad’ or craze, or new thing to do, that doesnt mean we quit teaching about value, respect and honor – those might sound like huge things, and hair is just one little thing, but what matters is that one small thing that you use each day to help them ‘get it’! – Even if that thing is only hair

I am the last person you should ask about the benefits of fine hair, I am usually the one complaining with the â€˜woes meâ€™ tales of all the tangles and frustration of my hair.

But in truth my hair is pretty cool and really the only thing that needs fixing is my attitude about it. My new thing is, when I find something to complain about I must follow up with something positive about my hair and in practicing that I have discovered that fine hair isnâ€™t so bad after all.

There are some real benefits to havingÂ thinner strandsÂ and you soon discover that the grass is actually green onÂ thisÂ side of the fence so in the spirit of all things positive here areÂ 7 benefits to having fine natural hair.

I know what you are thinking, another post about how weaves pull on the edges of your hair, causing receding hair lines, or something about how not caring for your hair underneath the weave can cause breakage and irreparable damage etc.

You may even have expected pictures of various people who suffer fromÂ Traction AlopeciaÂ as a direct result of wearing a weave. And of course to seal the deal we could also include something about the not-so-glamorous side of wearing a weave with the poster childÂ Naomi CampbellÂ all over the article.

Well respectfully, you are wrong. Thereâ€™s only so much we can say about Naomi and her busted edges so our perspective on this article is from a slightly different angle,Â some of which is somewhat psychological.

This is a wonderful video, a small lesson in hair love! When I saw that pic on Instagram I thought it was *just* funny, as most of us did. Is hair Envy really an issue, do you wish you had Tracee’s curls or anyone’s curls for that matter?

The recession is over, or so they like to say. If thatâ€™s the case then why in the world does a sixty dollar jar of product still make my head hurt causing me to reach for some Tylenol with the quickness?Â To be frank, I believe that paying that much money for a hair product is ridiculous, I donâ€™t know what kind of potion they have in that jar but chances are it is way too magical for me.

Honestly you do not have to spend a fortune on your natural hair, as a matter of fact if you just tweaked your mind set a bit, set a few budget goals then you have won half the battle.Â Here are 7 ways to avoid spending a fortune on your natural hair:

“I personally don’t see what education comes from someone touching. There doesn’t need to be any touching. You know, black women or women of color, generally, genetically have bigger backsides. Do you need to touch my butt to know why I’m genetically predisposed to having a larger backside? No, you don’t. You can just walk around and accept that people are different.”

The blogs have been going bonkers over the Union Square Exhibit in Brooklyn NY where women with huge signs invited random individuals to touch their hair in the name of education. I am just writing this to say, that if that wasnt the worst idea for ‘things to do on a weekend’ I dont know what is. Stay tuned for commentry on this on the lovely BHI.

I wouldÂ be the worst model ever, ….Â ‘dude is that Tarter Sauce on your pinky ewww…keep it moving playa’

Personally I like these models the best:

Update:

Hop on over toÂ BHIÂ to see what the girls are saying aboutÂ the article… And why didn’t y’all tell me Union Square wasn’t in Brooklyn!? smh!.. I need to pay NY a visit, hopefully nobody head fondles me while I am there!

Either I’m paranoid, or they really do like my hair. Ive mentioned before that I recently jumped back into the rat race and in my first week, I wore buns everyday so no one actually saw my hair out or down.Â I washed and deep conditioned my hair over the weekend so Â I decided what the hell ‘I am gonna rock a braid out’. It was smaller in the morning when I left the house than it was when I actually got into the office, but I was used to that.

They weren’t ready

The comments so far have been ‘Wow”, you look like “Chaka Khan”” I love your hair all, big (I swear she rolled her eyes- just sayin)”, “girl them curls…see mmm mm, I couldn’t do it, but I love yours”Â (no you don’t!) ‘its all crinkly and stuff’ (code for weird)

WTF?

are those compliments? because really I can’t tell – I must say many of the facial expressions have been surprise, awe and smiles so that’s a good start. I have heard alot about on the job comments good and bad, and I usually have a laundry list of ways to deal with them, some of which I have retired because it has been so long. Time to wake the dead!

1. Always reinforce a seemingly negative comment with something positive and uplifting – maybe they might follow up with, ‘she’s so vain’ intheir mindsÂ but that’s ok! self love is awesome and there is no betrayal there.

2. Sometimes people can be negative and want to touch your hair at the same time, a little sideÂ move never hurt anyone. If they are reaching with those five finger weapons just kinda bob and weave that bad boy, they will get the picture.

3. Have fun with it! when that guy said I looked like Chaka Khan – why cant I spell her name, I swear I typed it like 5 times! – I just started singing one of her songs and everyone laughed, now the smart commenter is no longer the center of the situation, which should decrease the smart comments since they know you have cute ways of popping their little smartie pants bubbles.